A diversity of electric vehicles have been proposed, which utilize electrical energy output from fuel cells for the driving energy. Supply of a fuel, such as hydrogen, to the fuel cells is naturally required for power generation in the fuel cells. The electric vehicle of one known construction has hydrogen mounted thereon as the fuel for the fuel cells. The electric vehicle of another known construction has a source material, such as a hydrocarbon or a hydrocarbon compound, mounted thereon and reforms the source material to generate hydrogen gas and supply the hydrogen gas to the fuel cells.
One proposed arrangement to make hydrogen mounted on a vehicle as the fuel for fuel cells uses a storage tank including a hydrogen absorbing alloy on the vehicle and makes hydrogen absorbed by the hydrogen absorbing alloy as the fuel for fuel cells (for example, PATENT LAID-OPEN GAZETTE No. 2000-88196). This structure ensures the safety in storage of hydrogen on the vehicle as the movable body.
In the structure of utilizing the hydrogen absorbing alloy for storage of hydrogen on the vehicle, supply of hydrogen to the storage tank including the hydrogen absorbing alloy is required for a continuous drive of the vehicle. Sufficient safety is naturally an important factor in the course of supplying hydrogen under such conditions. The safety of fuel supply to a system with fuel cells has, however, not been discussed fully.
A fuel supply system for fuel cells and a movable body of the present invention are provided to solve the problems of the prior art technique and to enhance the safety of supply of a fuel, such as hydrogen, or its source material to any system with fuel cells.